Chapter 7
Chapter Seven
"Are you sure you're okay, Mrs. Comerford?
" Hannah asked as they all stood from their chairs.
Hannah needed to get to the front, but she didn't want to leave Mrs. Comerford if she still needed help.
The lady was elderly, and Hannah had been afraid the fall might've broken a hip.
But after making sure that the woman was okay, they were able to help her up, and she seemed like she would be fine.
Bruised, but okay. Thankfully, the lady wasn't taking blood thinners, and Hannah was not worried about internal bleeding.
Blood clots were more of an issue, but Hannah had already talked to her about that.
"Thank you for your help. I think I'll be fine. I might be a little sore in the morning."
"I'm sure you'll probably be a little sore. Don't hesitate to call me if you need me, okay?" Hannah asked, waiting until the lady nodded gratefully and promised to do so, before she allowed her to walk toward the back of the building while Hannah turned and walked toward the front.
Maybe it was because of that weird moment when she'd made eye contact with Ben, but something had made her look at him once the pandemonium had broken out, and she had seen him looking over toward the fire alarm, and his eyes had been horrified.
That had made her glance over, and she'd seen the deputy sheriff apprehending a kid that looked very much like Ben.
As much as Hannah felt like she and Ben had personalities that would clash with each other, it made her feel bad for him all over again.
Even if the man wasn't the sheriff of Mistletoe Meadows, it would be difficult to have a son who seemed to be completely devoted to destroying his life and making his father miserable and embarrassing him at every opportunity.
"I'm so glad you were there to help Mrs. Comerford," Cassie spoke next to her shoulder.
"I appreciate you standing to make sure that we didn't get trampled while we did it. Although people were much more controlled than I expected. I thought there would be more panic. But after the initial rush, folks settled down."
"I think that's because there were several people with cool heads who were instructing people to calm down and file out in an orderly manner."
"Regardless, I appreciate you making sure that the crowd went around us."
"No problem," Cassie said with a smile. "If you need anyone on your committee, you know you can count on me. But for now, I need to run over and talk to Jane. She’s starting a book club, and she asked me to co-chair it with her."
"Sure. This shouldn't take long, and I'll look for you when I'm done."
They parted ways, although Hannah honestly had no idea how long it was going to take. Hopefully she would be finished before Cassie, and Cassie wouldn't have to wait on her.
But she wasn't quite sure what she had gotten herself into. Still, she had wanted to help in the town, and she supposed this was one way to get started.
"I appreciate you both getting up here quickly," Noah said as Hannah made it to the podium.
She looked around to see who the second person was and realized that Ben had followed her up.
She nodded her head at him and smiled, although his face was serious, and he almost looked angry.
She bristled immediately at the look and then told herself to relax. It wasn't her, at least she didn't think it was. It was probably because he was worried about his son.
"Hey, I saw who pulled the alarm," Noah said softly, and maybe he had only intended for Ben to hear.
Ben glanced at Hannah before he jerked his head.
"I saw it too. I mean, I didn't see him actually pull it, but I saw a kid standing over there."
Ben jerked his head again.
"I just wanted you to know I’ll be going to the station when we’re done here, but we're not going to press charges. I know that you're working with him."
"It might be good if you do. As much as I hate to say that. There needs to be some consequences for his actions, and apparently the punishments that I've been dishing out have not been effective."
Obviously, it cost a lot to say that, and Hannah found herself tempted to put a hand on his shoulder or his arm to comfort him.
"Okay. I’ll do what you think is best. I wouldn't want to be in your shoes, and I know that there are circumstances that... while maybe they don't excuse his behavior, they certainly explain it."
Hannah figured they were talking about the divorce and about whatever issues Ben had with his ex.
Ben nodded.
"All right. I don't want to go on about that, and there'll be more people coming up. But I wanted to talk to the two of you together. We can have two separate committees, but like I said in the meeting, I would prefer to put the two of you together into one safety committee and make you co-chairs of that. It would be more beneficial for the budget. That way we can allocate wherever the money needs to be allocated, since this is our first time and we’re not sure exactly what we’ll be getting into. "
Hannah did not want to agree to that. She really didn't want to have anything to do with Ben. The two of them couldn't seem to get along, and he irritated her in ways she couldn't explain.
There was also that moment that they'd shared across the room, and she didn't want a repeat of that, whatever it was. Although she couldn't say it was an unpleasant experience.
"That's fine with me," she said, and hoped that she didn't wait too long. The men seemed to be looking at her and waiting for her to speak.
"That's fine with me too."
"All right. Then I'll let the two of you hash it out.
If you need help, you can grab it from your friends, or you can let me know, and like I said in the meeting, we'll call a meeting and we'll get volunteers.
If I get anyone who comes up and asks to help, I can assign them to your committee as well.
We'll just have to play that by ear. I hope that we're not jumping ahead of ourselves and expecting the festival to be bigger this year than it was last, but that certainly seems to be the way things are shaping up. "
"It's better to be prepared than to be overrun when the actual time comes."
"Thanks. I hope you don't mind going through a lot of extra work and aren't upset when the numbers aren't there." Noah seemed to appreciate Ben's words and seemed to be letting them both know that they could be doing a lot of work for nothing.
Hannah didn't mind. She agreed with Ben.
"That's how I feel as well," she said.
Noah nodded and then said, "I'll let the two of you hash it out, figure out a time to meet and that type of thing. I've got a few other people I need to talk to if that's okay."
"We've got it," Hannah said, lifting her brows at Ben, who nodded. He seemed preoccupied, but that was to be expected after what had happened with his son.
Noah moved away to a few other people who had come up to the front to help out, leaving Hannah and Ben standing together awkwardly.
At least Hannah felt like it was awkward. Ben seemed perfectly at ease, other than the hard expression on his face and the obvious desire to be somewhere else.
So she figured she might as well take the bull by the horns.
"I feel like we didn't get off on the best foot, and I'm sorry.
I'm really looking forward to doing my part to make the festival the best it can be.
I owe a lot to Mistletoe Meadows and the small-town atmosphere.
" She thought about her own childhood and how the town had possibly saved her.
Her grandma had a lot to do with that as well.
"Same."
She could've easily gone down the same path that Mason seemed to be headed down. In fact, she'd been on that path. Thankfully, people had intervened, people who cared. Like her grandmother.
There were times that she struggled to forgive her parents for what they had done, but in hindsight, she knew that what they'd done was in her best interest.
"Fair enough," Ben said, holding out his hand.
She looked at it for a moment, calloused and brown, before she took it in her own and met his eyes. She shook it.
"We have a few things we need to talk about, and the sheet that Noah gave us is something we should probably go over together," Ben began.
She nodded. "I can stay now, or we can set up a time to meet later?" She lifted her brows.
"I have a few things I'm going to need to see to, and I can't stick around."
She nodded and did not mention his son. Neither did he.
"Dr. Terry wants to keep the clinic open later in the evenings, and I volunteered to take those shifts, so before noon would work best for me."
"I'm actually working morning shifts this week."
Their schedules couldn't be any less similar.
"I can take a lunch break at the diner though. It just opened in town. Maybe you've seen it?"
"Yeah. But I don't want you to have to give up your lunch break and—"
"I wouldn't be giving it up. I'd still be in uniform, and if any call came in, I'd have to leave immediately, but I stop in there to eat, and I can do that while on duty."
"All right. That sounds fine."
"Does Monday work?"
"It does."
He nodded. "Then we'll plan on it."